Impact of Six Sigma critical success factors on productivity improvement through absorptive capacity in the manufacturing industry in Saudi Arabia

Previous studies have acknowledged the role of Six Sigma in productivity improvement, but the implication of absorptive capacity (ACAP) has yet to be fully addressed. Accordingly, this paper investigates the mediating effect of ACAP on the link between Six Sigma's critical success factors and productivity improvement. The hypothesised relationships were tested with data collected from quality managers in 167 manufacturing companies in Saudi Arabia. The result of PLS-SEM indicates that ACAP significantly mediates the influences of training and education, top management commitment and involvement, project selection and prioritisation and organisation resources on productivity improvement. However, the mediating effect of ACAP was not supported for the path between linking Six Sigma to business strategy and productivity improvement. Moreover, ACAP was significantly related to productivity improvement. The implications of our findings on the firm's productivity improvement and operation management literature were discussed, and the relevant suggestions were offered for future research.